5th February 2007, 02:12 PM
yup, no problem in itself with volunteers digging skeletons as long as they are fully supervised all of the time, at least for the first few adults, and on any sub-adults. I suppose my problem is a lot more with the poor standards of archaeological excavation by roaming professors in other people's countries (note they hardly ever do any digging in their own country, interesting that...) and the poor standard of training that this provides their students who then, at least in some countries, go on to become consultants who think that antiquarian treasure hunting and awful recording is an acceptable standard of archaeology.
I also don't believe in the excavation of tombs, burials, graves etc etc unless they are threatened by development or grave robbing, but then a professor digging them just to get the pretty things out and not recognising or caring about the human remains is just another form of tomb robbing anyway. ANY excavation where it is known that human remains are likely to be found should have an osteologist attached to the project, even if they are not actually on site every day, and that is especially important for research/training digs where the vast majority of people doing the digging will not have any knowledge of what human remains look like and how to deal with them. Once students/volunteers have been guided through the excavation of skeletons and how to recognise them by someone who knows what they are doing, they will have that knowledge and be able to use it in future. If they are led by people who don't know and don't care, how are they supposed to know any different?
++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++
I also don't believe in the excavation of tombs, burials, graves etc etc unless they are threatened by development or grave robbing, but then a professor digging them just to get the pretty things out and not recognising or caring about the human remains is just another form of tomb robbing anyway. ANY excavation where it is known that human remains are likely to be found should have an osteologist attached to the project, even if they are not actually on site every day, and that is especially important for research/training digs where the vast majority of people doing the digging will not have any knowledge of what human remains look like and how to deal with them. Once students/volunteers have been guided through the excavation of skeletons and how to recognise them by someone who knows what they are doing, they will have that knowledge and be able to use it in future. If they are led by people who don't know and don't care, how are they supposed to know any different?
++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++